Please Read - Last Post for this News and Announcements Blog

Lamoille South Supervisory Union, Elmore Morristown Unified Union School District and Stowe School District are deploying new websites. As part of that process, we will be using a new system for posting News and Announcements. This is the last post that will be made to this blog. Below is a link to the page on our new website where you can signup for the new News and Announcements. You will immediately notice one of the improvements in the new sites is that you can sign up for many blogs at once. If you have a child in one of our schools, you should have received an email from your school principal with a link to signup for the News and Announcements. The link in this post and the link in that email serve the same purpose. There is no need to do both.

If you signed up to receive emails from this soon-to-be retired site, you will need to sign up at the new site. Our apologies for the inconvenience but we are sure you will find the new system better in many ways.

If you no longer wish to receive email alerts from any of our News and Announcements, you do not need to take any action.

This blog will remain accessible for those that use it as a reference but we will no longer add any new content.

Subscribe Here - https://www.lamoillesouthsu.org/manage-blog-subscription.php

More information on the new sites and how to give feedback will be forthcoming.

If you have any questions or need technical support, please send an email to lssutech@lssuvt.org to open a support ticket.

Website Refresh Starting Wednesday 8/23/17

Lamoille South Supervisory Union, Stowe School District, and Elmore-Morristown School District will be refreshing their websites, beginning this evening, Wednesday, August 23, 2017.  There is likely to be intermittent issues for the next 24 hours.  Please bear with us.  More information about the new websites and how to give feedback will be forthcoming.

If you are trying to access E-Registration through the school district websites, an alternative would be to use the following link https://ps.morrisville.org/public to access the parent portal.

If you are having any difficulties accessing the parent portal, or resetting your password, please call Melissa Gillen at 802-888-4541, ext. 5559 or email her at melissa.gillen@lssuvt.org, and she will assist you.

School Board Brief - August 16, 2017

The Stowe School District, Elmore-Morristown Unified Union, and Lamoille South boards met to continue their work on our Act 46 Alternative Governance Structure self-study. The boards reviewed the tax implications of both voluntary and forced governance mergers, reconfirming that any merger would present little to no tax benefit to either district and a likely eventual increase in Stowe’s homestead tax rate. This confirms that the boards are on the fiscally responsible path by seeking an Alternative Governance Structure that would maintain two separate districts under one supervisory union.

There are two important upcoming meetings, during which the boards will seek input from both communities regarding a draft of the Alternative Governance Structure proposal that will eventually go to the State Board of Education. On Monday, September 25, at 6:00 PM, the boards will meet at Stowe High School, and on Tuesday, September 26, at 6:00 PM, the boards will meet at Peoples Academy. A draft of the Alternative Governance Structure proposal--our districts’ response to Act 46--will be available several days in advance of these meetings. We encourage members of the community to read this draft and then attend a meeting to give feedback. Community response is crucial to our response to Act 46, and these meetings will allow the board to hear what community members think.

Below, please find the schedule of upcoming Act 46 meetings, which has been revised:

●     Wednesday, September 13, 6:00. Stowe Elementary School Music Room

●     Monday, September 25, 6:00. Stowe High School Auditorium

            Community Engagement Meeting -- PLEASE ATTEND

●     Tuesday, September 26, 6:00. Peoples Academy Auditorium

Community Engagement Meeting -- PLEASE ATTEND

●     Tuesday, October 24, 6:00. Morristown Elementary School Library

●     Wednesday, November 15, 6:00. Stowe Elementary School Music Room

School Board Brief - August 14, 2017

Lamoille South Supervisory Union Curriculum Director Valerie Sullivan briefed the Stowe School Board on our progress implementing Proficiency Based Learning, including a review of what it is, work done to date, and next steps for the coming school year.  

Board members are enthusiastic about our district’s progress toward proficiency based and personalized learning systems.  Our teachers have developed standards by which they will measure and report each student’s progress towards mastering important skills and concepts. The district is customizing a reporting system, which teachers will use to organize and track data about student progress and to communicate that progress to students and  parents. Plans are also in place to strengthen student understanding of mindset, motivation, and metacognition to support their transition to Proficiency Based Learning. There will be a great deal of communication between the administration, teachers, parents, and students as we continue to implement this new process, which will serve students’ learning needs.

The Board is looking forward to regular updates on the work in our schools on Proficiency Based Learning and Personalization at meetings throughout the school year.  

Superintendent Tracy Wrend briefed the board on the ramifications of Act 85, which determines how the state will capture savings from changes in teacher health insurance. Lamoille South Supervisory Union’s contractual net employer/employee contributions to healthcare are close to the target plan laid out by the state, and we do expect to generate savings from the health insurance transition to offset amounts expected to be withheld from state education fund payments.  In addition, Act 85 set yield amounts and non-residential tax rates at a different level than projected  during budgeting, and ultimately local tax rates are lower than was projected in March.

School Board Brief - June 05, 2017

Stowe School Board held its final regular meeting for the 2016-2017 school year. Superintendent Wrend shared the annual report for 2015-2016, which is available here.

Please click this link to see the regularly scheduled meetings for the upcoming school year, as well as Lamoille South Supervisory Union and joint Act 46 meetings.

School Board Brief - May 31, 2017

In a joint meeting with Lamoille South Supervisory Union’s and Elmore-Morristown Unified Union’s boards, the Stowe School Board continued work on our Act 46 Alternative Governance Proposal. Consultant Peter Clarke reviewed the portions of passed legislation that are relevant to our proposal, as well as additional guidelines from the State Board of Education. The boards reviewed achievement data pursuant to both our Alternative Governance Structure Proposal and our continued goal of providing a strong education for all students in the Supervisory Union.

The next Act 46 meeting will be Monday, July 10, 2017, at 6:00PM at Stowe Elementary School.

School Board Brief - May 15, 2017

The board reviewed Stowe’s and Elmore-Morristown Unified Union’s math and literacy progress monitoring tools. Lamoille South Supervisory Union (LSSU) has recently begun using the STAR assessment, which takes 20 minutes and will be given three times a year, with the flexibility to add screenings for some students. Students progress through the assessments once they have demonstrated proficiency.  These screenings provide data that enables more focused instruction in areas where students haven’t mastered skills and provide ongoing indicators of the extent student learning is on track to meet our goals.  

The board began discussion of the formation of a committee to address our capital improvement needs. The board will solidify plans over the summer.

Emily Rosenbaum was named the Stowe School District board representative to the Regional Advisory Board.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Parent Announcements

2017-2018 LSSU Calendar               Principal & School Blog - Subscribe Now

NEW

• Garden Work Session Thu. 2:45 - 4:00 - Community Service hours will be awarded. See Mr. Smith or Mr. Grogan to let him know you can help out

• A World of Difference Students will be meeting this Friday the 19th in the art room during active study.

• Memorial Day Poem Wanted: We seek a poem to be read on Friday, May 26th. The poem will be posted on our school's blog and read aloud. The poem theme is "The Meaning of Memorial Day." Please email or give a copy to Ms. Ortiz elisabeth.ortiz@lssuvt.org.

• Annual Remembrance Run 5K: June 11th, 9:30am, at PA.  Registration available here.

• Special Olympics Torch Event: Walk/Run with the torch at SMS during Active Study, Friday, June 2nd.  $20 gets you a t-shirt and allows you accompany the torch around the track.  Turn in money to Mrs. Marshall or the MS Office.

• Fall sports registration is now open! Please register your athlete by July 1, 2017.  Register info here.
  
  

• Yearbook Ordering DEADLINE is May 26th!!! Yearbooks can still be purchased. Orders can be placed online or you can drop off $20 (cash or check made out to Stowe Middle School) to the office.

• Band/Chorus Rehearsal - TUESDAY, 9:50-11:15am, mandatory

• High School Transition Night - Tuesday, the 16th, 6:30pm in the auditorium (for 8th grade parents and students alike!).

• Stowe Bible Camp Registration open: June 19-23, 9am-12pm, Register here.

OLD

• Adventures in Public Art Making HDAC Camp: Maisie and Georgia Schnee, together with artist Kelly Holt, are launching a public art project, in our community to activate interest artists in a response to advancements in global warming.  They are leading a camp at Helen Day Art Center in July. If you are interested, please sign up! Join the team and bring a powerful idea to life to share in our community! Campers will get to work in various media and collaborate on something BIG. The group will create a mural responding to the idea of BELONGING. The sky's the limit! In this camp, we will look at what artists are putting out into the world and share ideas of how we respond to art as we live alongside it. Instructor: Kelly Holt  

• July 10th-14th

• Ages 9-13

• 9:00am-3:00pm

• $275 (member) | $300 (non-member)

• Also, you can sign up to help with this project on Beautification Day!  Stay tuned for more details on Beautification Day activity sign-ups. This group will participate in painting part of the canvas!

• Type 1 Diabetes Presentation: Thursday, May 18th, at UVM, 6:30-8:30pm.  Living well with Diabetes in the Family presentation given by Moira McCarthy Stanford.

• Call for Substitute Teachers: Do you know someone who might like to be a substitute? If so please contact LSSU and get on the sub list (very easy application packet).  We now use an electronic sub system (AESOP), so you can look at and sign up for vacancies from wherever you are at any time of day.

Summer Camps

• *NEW* Stowe Bible Camp Registration open: June 19-23, 9am-12pm, Register here.

• Summer Camps at HDAC: For more information, see their brochure!

• Musical Theater Camps at PA:

• June 19th-24th - Aristocats, ages 6 and up

• June 26th-30th - Pirates of Penzance, 6th grade and up

• Registration information

Visit Stowe Middle School Music website for upcoming events and details.

Community Service Opportunities

• The Friends of the Stowe Free Library Book Sale July 5th thru July 24th. Your hours can be flexible and we will work with your schedule. We need volunteers to get boxes out of the library basement, via an elevator, to the porch or gazebo, and also to shift boxes around on the porch. Please email  Bonnie Knight me for more information or if you think you can help. bonniesknight@gmail.com

• Leadership/Community Service: 6th/7th Graders interested in helping on 5th Grade transition night on TUESDAY, May 16th at 6:30pm please sign-up outside the office. This is an opportunity to be help teachers tell our 5th grade parents about SMS.

Calendar - Full calendar on website

May 17th-18th: 6th-8th SBACs

May 16th: 5th Grade Parent Transition Night, 6-7pm

May 18th: SMHS Spring Concert, 7pm

May 22nd: 6th Gr Field Trip to Fairbanks Museum

May 24th-25th: 8th SBAC

May 26th: Beautification Day

June 2nd: 6th Gr Field Trip to Montpelier

June 7th: Step Up Day

June 9th: 8th Gr Field Trip to Great Escape

June 12th: SMS BBQ

June 15th: 6th Gr Field Trip to Smugglers Notch / 7th Gr Field Trip to Spare Time / 8th           Grade Graduation, 6pm

June 16th: Last Half Day, Field Day!

attendance

Meeting Attendance Codes: AE,AU,EAM,EPM,ET,FT,IAES,ISS,ISSAM,ISSPM,SAM,SPM,SU,TU,UAM,UPM,UT,XC,

Student Grade Phone 1 Bowen, Macklin Tait 7 802-253-2890 AU   Collins, Caleb Michael 8 802-793-9538 UT   Cooney, Thomas Harvey 6 443-831-4223 ET   Fitzgerald, Ava Lorraine 6 802-760-0473 AU   Fuss, Alexander Thomas 7 802-888-5539 UT   Glanz, Adam 7 516-455-3404 AE   McNeil, Brodey Patrick 6 603-998-7100 AE   Nissenbaum, Benjamin Isaac 6 207-316-9601 AU   Ogden, Oliver 8 802-730-3923 UT   Riley, Henry 6 802-253-0801 UT   Taylor, Rowan Grace 6 802-224-6348 AU   Wahler, Gemma Marin 8 802-586-2009 UT   Wheelwright, George William 8 802-793-3200 AU

--

Elisabeth Ortiz

Administrative Assistant
Stowe Middle School

413 Barrows Rd.
Stowe, VT 05672-4740

802-253-6913 x2330

WARNING:  This email may contain information under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).  If this email contains confidential and/or privileged student or health information and you are not entitled to access such information under FERPA or HIPAA, federal regulations require that you destroy this email without reviewing and you may not forward it to anyone.

School Board Brief - May 08, 2017

In a joint meeting with the Elmore-Morristown Unified Union (EMUU) and the Lamoille South Supervisory Union, the Stowe School Board interviewed Peter Clarke, a consultant who specializes in Act 46. After discussion, the Stowe and EMUU boards voted to hire Mr. Clarke to help structure the process of our Act 46 study and response.

The boards added two new meetings to discuss Act 46. The next three Act 46 meetings are:

• May 31, 2017, 6:00 PM, Morristown Elementary School
• July 10, 2017, 6:00 PM, Stowe Elementary School
• August 16, 2017, 6:00 PM, Morristown Elementary School

School Board Brief - April 24, 2017

Representative Heidi Scheuermann briefed the board on work she has been doing with the legislature and a meeting she coordinated for board chairs and Superintendent Wrend with several key employees of the Vermont Agency of Education, as well as the legislative teams from both districts. Representative Scheuermann continues to provide legislative support for Stowe and Elmore-Morristown Unified Union’s application for an alternative governance structure under Act 46.

            The board decided on several updates to board operations policies, which will be warned for adoption at an upcoming meeting.

The board also began to review its Policy on Public Use of School Facilities use. A number of community members spoke about an upcoming event on May 20 that a community member will be hosting, which will take place in Stowe High School but which is not sponsored by the district. This discussion will continue, as the board fulfills the district’s obligation to honor the free speech rights of individuals and groups using the facilities.  The board will be exploring ways to get broad community feedback on options for changes to the facilities-use policy in the coming months.

School Board Brief

Lamoille South Supervisory Union Curriculum Coordinator Val Sullivan presented the timeline for the rollout of Proficiency-Based Learning (PBL). A cross-supervisory union team has been working to prepare teachers for PBL implementation and grading, and we will see most of the transition in place by September 2017. For students currently in the upper-level high school grades, transcripts will contain a hybrid of the current grading system and proficiency standards in order to create continuity throughout their high school years.

Superintendent Tracy Wrend presented Advanced Placement (AP) data in preparation for the June annual report.

The board reviewed our board operating policies and began the process of updating them as necessary to reflect current recommendations from the Vermont School Boards Association.

Act 46 Update - March 22, 2017

Since 2009, Stowe, Morristown, and Elmore have been studying various forms of governance options through four formal committee processes, including two 706b studies, the most recent of which resulted in a successful merger between Elmore and Morristown in 2016. Discussions between Stowe and Elmore-Morristown Unified Union around Act 46 began more than 19 months ago, and the two districts jointly agreed to pursue an Alternative Structure in the spring of 2016. Since that time, board members have been working with the administration to conduct a comprehensive self-evaluation—the basis of the proposal. The March 22, 2017 meeting continued board analysis of the required data, including a deep dive into enrollment and demographic trends. The boards also requested that the administration provide options for outside consultation and associated costs.

The boards expect to complete data analysis and a first draft this spring, at which point input will be solicited from 1) legal review (to coincide with the end of the legislative session when rules and changes to the law will be final), 2) the community, and 3) preliminary review with the Agency of Education. Once that input has been incorporated, the boards expect to ratify the proposal and submit to the Secretary of Education by November 2017.

At the state level, board members are closely watching the progressions of Rule 3400, pertaining to the proposal for Alternative Structures, and S.122, an act relating to increasing flexibility for school district mergers.

The next joint meeting of Elmore-Morristown Unified Union and Stowe to continue the self-evaluation work will take place on April 26, 2017. The agenda and location will be posted closer to the meeting date; however, a general work plan can be found at www.lamoillesouthsu.org.

School Board Brief

Click HERE to learn FAST FACTS regarding the FY18 proposed school budget. This is the second in a set of budget overviews from the school board. Please remember that the Public Information Meeting on the school budget will be held at the Akeley Building on Monday, February 27, at 6:00 PM.

Stowe High School Principal Candidate Visit for 2/13 is Rescheduled

The Stowe High School Principal candidate visit scheduled for February 13th is rescheduled for February 14th. The agenda for the day will remain the same.

School Board Brief

School Board Brief | February 7, 2017

The vote on the school budget will take place on Town Meeting Day, March 7, 2017. Please follow this link to read the first in a series of budget overviews from the school board. Also, please mark your calendar for a Public Information Meeting on the school budget at 6:00 PM on Monday, February 27 at the Town Hall.

It's About Learning Budget Edition

The February 2017 Budget Edition of It's About Learning is now available. It may be viewed and printed from our website HERE. A printed version of this publication can be obtained by contacting Lamoille South Supervisory Union at 888-4541.

January 24, 2017 - LSSU Schools are Closed Today

Due to the weather, all schools in Lamoille South SU are closed today, Tuesday January 24.  This includes all Elmore, Morristown and Stowe schools.

Tuesday January 3, all after school activities are cancelled

Due to forecasted weather conditions, all after school activities are cancelled, Tuesday January 3.  This includes Elmore, Morristown, and Stowe schools.